Ms Emily O'Reilly:

What I know is on the public record and in the public domain in any event. NAMA objected initially to being subject to the freedom of information provisions. Its chairman, Mr. Frank Daly, made comments in that regard and stated that his view was that NAMA's work was so commercially sensitive and important to the country that its confidentiality must be ensured. I take the view that the work NAMA is doing is so important that there must be a certain amount of oversight and vision as to what it is doing. No organisation is perfect and, as such, all organisations can be helped by transparency. Mr. Rafferty spoke about robust debates which had taken place on NAMA. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform stuck to its guns on NAMA and other bodies and it will be before the committee in that regard. When the news was announced, I said the devil would be in the detail. While a body might be included in the regime, it may be that all one is allowed to see is the number of paperclips it gets through in a week. On the other hand, a body might be included in such a way as to provide an insight into how it works. This will be difficult as they are the experts, but there are enough individuals in my office and in the superior Courts who have a reasonable grasp of the public interest and can make the correct decisions. It will be for Oireachtas committees such as this to make a call on how effective the regime is when they see the full flowering and what is coming out or not.